Causam
by Ravenella
Summary: Mai and Naru try to figure out their relationship, Gene is a wolf, because he wanted to join them on cases much to Naru's irritation. The SPR gang go on their toughest cases yet, Mai finds more out about herself than she thought she would. Yasuhara has his own troubles to deal with and when life starts to feel right a mysterious figure appears to change their lives...
1. Chapter 1: The Cursed Ring Case (Part 1)

**A/N: Anyone that has been following Causam know that it has been rewrote with a different plot though I will take up it's plot again in a different way. Thank you a lot and I hope you enjoy this remade version of it!**

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_**August 3rd, 2016, 15:34 (3:34pm)**_

A figure made tea for herself and her current acting boss a pinkette named Madoka Mori, the fiance of a relatively silent man named Koujo Lin. Her shoulder length brown hair she let grow out after she spent a lot of time to herself before she finally went back to work, she had been crying over her bosses rejection of her love. She decided to continue growing out her hair anyway, wanting to go for a more mature look even if she had only turned sixteen a few months prior.

The brunettes name is Mai Taniyama, she was a sophomore in highschool. Said sophomore had just got to her office at Shibuya Psychic Research. She was sporting a long puffy sleeve blouse and a long black skirt with black heels to boot, she had really small feet though which meant most of her good shoes were special made.

When she walked back into the living room like space their curled up on the sofa was a black wolf, that lifted his head with a huff and his dark blue eyes looked at her as he sat up to give her his full attention. Said wolf currently held the soul of her bosses identical twin brother, who was dead but sorta alive in the wolf. Oh and his name was Gene though on the tag he is called 'Gen.' Which makes people think he's a girl which only makes him upset.

How he came to be was Gene happened to think of well maybe he could 'possess' an animal so he can be of more use. Then he appeared at her apartment unannounced, of course and wrote 'I'm Gene' with his mouth on a piece of paper when Mai was on her last week in on her grieving Naru.

To say she was mad was an understatement. In fact she nearly, nearly kicked Gene out of her apartment. The next week was spent talking to Gene in the Astral Plane and figuring everything out. Oh and watching a lot of movies and eating ice cream because Gene wanted to catch up on current trends even though he was a dog now. He eventually was able to telepathically talk to her when he got more used to things.

She then began working with Madoka exactly three weeks ago and had yet to mention that Gene was a dog, which by the way, Gene has been avoiding all human eyes besides Mai's so no one has even seen him. He said if they did, "'they'd know."

"Inner monologuing?" Gene asks into their telepathic connection. "Shut up," Mai replies with a glare. Gene then jumps off the couch and trots away into her office which means that Madoka was most likely coming out of her office, Lin and Naru were still in England currently.

"Good news, Mai!" Madoka exclaims. "We'll be going on a case this week," she said with a grin. "Oh will you tell me what it's all about?" Mai asks. "The client is coming in an hour to tell us in more detail," Madoka says before she grabs her cup of tea and goes back to her office.

Mai just sighs and decides to call up the rest of SPR. Her soon to be adoptive parents Houshou Takigawa and Ayako Matsuzaki, both are now engaged after just a month of dating because apparently they felt they had to. Houshou or who she likes to fondly call Monk, is well a monk. Well Ayako is a miko or shinto maiden, she is also a doctor, despite Monk and Ayako dating they still seem to tease each other a lot. Yasu was the one that got them together.

Osamu Yasuhara or better known as Yasu is a highschool graduate, he decided to take some time off before he goes into university in order to decide what he wants to do and give himself a bit of a break. Mai doesn't know much about him, she can tell that despite seeming open he seems to be hiding parts of himself.

Another member of SPR is Masako Hara a famous psychic medium, currently she's away but they have become as close as sisters in the last two months. Often times Masako will call and ask about her day and on one notable occasion even appeared unannounced at her apartment with ice cream in hand and a set of DVD's in the other.

Then John Brown, a catholic priest, he is the sweetest member of their group, he tries his hardest to keep everyone civil. He took her out for dinner when she was moping around her apartment for days, Of course she had school but going from school to the apartment and then not leaving her apartment at all wasn't very healthy.

The last two members of SPR were away in England trying to settle things there before they returned to Japan. Her boss Oliver Davis, though he goes by the alias Kazuya Shibuya and is better known as Naru, who is sorta a narcissist, though she's sure it's more of a joke now then anything. Then lastly Koujo Lin, Naru's silent Chinese assistant who originally hated her but now she knows that he has respect for her, I mean now he calls her Mai instead of Taniyama and even smiles and says thank you and even drinks the tea she brings him. Oh and Madoka Mori's fiance. But she had already mentioned that.

At this current time she called everyone on the list besides those unavailable (in other countries or just busy) that way everyone is prepared to leave.

After all calls were made and a really standoffish call from Yasu, she grabbed her bag of clothes she always kept in her office and Gene just looked at her wagging his tail. She doesn't really understand why he's so excited because he will have to tell everyone his identity but it was obvious he was excited for one reason or another. He got up from under Mai's desk and padded out to the living room. He then curled up by the sofa to wait for everyone his blue collar around his neck standing out against the leather of the couch. The silver tag sparkles in the light.

She sighs as she decides to wait with her notepad going to put the hot water on low so it's ready for tea when their client arrives.

Mai took out a laptop that Monk had recently got for her, it wasn't incredibly fancy but it didn't have to be, she opened up a document and began to type well she waited.

Gene huffs as a woman, who appears to be their client opens the door forty-five minutes later. She is wearing a pink short sleeved top with a pink pencil skirt and pink heels, she was tall with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had her wallet in hand as she sat down on the leather couch across from Mai. "Keeping a dog in a place of business is incredibly unsanitary," the woman comments with a glare at Gene.

Gene bites back a growl, already hating her. Mai just gives a fake smile of annoyance and the woman does the same. "Look I don't believe in the paranormal, I'm hiring you for a job though and you're going to do it," the stuck up woman says.

Madoka comes out having heard the commotion seeing Gene she takes a step back, though she quickly composes herself realizing that they had a guest their.

"My name is Madoka Mori and I am the acting Chairman of Shibuya Psychic Research, our Chairman is currently away on family matters so I am taking care of all cases until his return." Madoka explains giving a handshake to the woman.

"I don't particularly care, I just am hiring you to get the job done," the woman explains with a sweetly sick smile that was grating on Mai's nerves.

"Can you explain to me what has been occurring?" Madoka asks the woman as she sits next to Mai, which as soon as she does Mai takes out her notebook to jot down notes.

"There is a peculiar heirloom in my husbands family, it's a pair of ring that curses whoever wears it. This ring my daughter wishes to wear with her husband when they are married next month. The rings were brought from my husbands family vault, since then we believe it has been responsible for the deaths of those that had brought it over, my husband and myself don't dare go near it for fear of it's wrath.

"Since then around the house incidents that we can't explain have been happening doors opening by themselves, we feel as if we are being watched at times, not only that but the temperature drops when the cooler isn't even on. We hear voices when no one is around, one of the housemaids had smelled blood in one of the rooms, she then was strangled by nothing but thin air.

"We have also heard what appears to be wedding vows in a sense, in the early afternoon every thursday. That is about it, we have lived in the same house since my husband and I married twenty-four years ago. He has lived there since he was a boy and there was nothing going on." The woman finally finishes with, "oh and my name is Aia Agawa, my husband is Hiroto Agawa, well our children's names are Asami, Daiki,Giichi and our youngest daughter, Emica. Asami is the only one who doesn't live with us, she is the one who is getting married next month."

Madoka nods, "we will take the case," she says with a soft smile.

"Oh? I thought you were going to even if I hadn't arrived." Aia-san says, with a fake smile.

Mai almost lost it. "Stay calm, Mai." Gene says to her with annoyance in his tone through telepathy. Mai breathes calmly through her nose than out through her mouth.

"We will need guest rooms to sleep in preferably with seperate rooms for the men and women though if we need to share that's perfectly fine," Madoka says, because there's only Monk, John and Yasu, it isn't that big of a deal for them, not like they couldn't if Naru and Lin where there either they just prefer to seem like they need separate rooms.

In reality they don't need separate rooms at all and on the more dangerous cases they have decided that it may be best to either just all sleep in base or to sleep in the same room together, because it's dangerous and for safety reasons why not?

"We also need a base for our equipment and if that's the only room you can give us we can sleep there as well," Madoka explains. "I will see what I can do," Aia-san explains with another one of her fake grins. She then gets up and brushes herself off before she leaves.

"Now Mai why don't you tell me about why Gene is a wolf," Madoka says with a grin with sinister intent behind it.

Mai was so screwed.

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After a long drawn out conversation with Madoka, Mai was doing just peachy, actually she was surprisingly when Madoka figured everything out she took it out on Gene. Thank goodness.

Well now Madoka is saying we may have to call Naru and Lin in for their help on this particular case. Especially considering there's a high chance of death. In fact as soon as she tells Naru what the case is about and what is occuring he will most likely be on the first plane back to Japan.

Which Mai was a little nervous about, currently Madoka and herself were loading up the cameras and monitors into the van, they needed several especially if they wanted coverage in every room and assuming its a mansion they brought along every camera and monitor they had.

Mai gets into the passenger seat after opening the door for Gene to get into the back, funnily enough she has a doggy seatbelt for him in her bag. It was a very recent addition.

Mai takes out her computer and begins to write in her document once more. Well Madoka puts on some music from her phone. "Mai, would you mind mailing Naru?" She asks carefully after the next song finishes. "No, not at all." Mai quickly types up the email very professionally before she sends Naru the document, in English as well as being sure to call him 'Dr. Oliver Davis.'

Because she feels like being a little annoyed with him after haven't speaking to him in three months.

Yeah she was annoyed but she had her reasons. 'Me or Gene' like who does that?!

"Mai, you're inner monologuing again," Gene mentions through their telepathic bond.

"Shut up," she whispers out loud to him.

He coughs, well how a dog coughs anyway, who can blame him?

"How has school been?" Madoka asks. "Pretty good though I wish I had Naru around to continue to help me with some of my school work. I've never been that good at science," is Mai's reply.

"Understandable, Naru has always been impressive at everything," Madoka says with a smirk.

"Considering he already has doctorate solely from his research, I wonder why he even wanted to continue to get a traditional degree, does he like school or something?" Mai asks. "You could say that," is Madoka's amused reply. "He probably wanted to do that because he felt almost like he was receiving his doctorate on a silver platter, despite how much effort it took to get it, for him it was probably effortless and worth it, however." Madoka says in a thoughtful manner.

"I guess that really does sound like Naru," Mai says with a laugh.

"It does, doesn't it?" Madoka asks. "Anyway can you call up Yasuhara? I need him to do a bit of research before he comes out," Madoka says. "Yeah I can do that," Mai is already taking her phone out and calling his number.

"Mai?" Yasu asks on the other end of the phone he sounds worried almost and tired. "Uh yeah it's me, are you okay?" Mai asks. "Yeah fine, what do you need?" Yasu asks.

"Um Madoka was wondering if you can do some research on the clients family seeing as the activity is not coming from a haunting of the house itself," Mai explains. "Yeah I can do that, names?" Yasu asks. "Oh uh Aia Agawa and her husband Hiroto, living in Yamanashi Prefecture.*" Mai explains to Yasu.

"Oh I see, well I'll take care of my research before I leave, unless by chance you could swing by?" He asks in an almost pleading tone. "Madoka?" Mai asks. "Mhm, I don't see why not," Madoka says. "Alright, I'll get ready," Yasuhara says in his usual chipper tone. Once he hangs up Mai looks at Madoka. "I feel like something is wrong.." Mai says. "Me too." Madoka says her lips for once not in a smile, but a frown which makes the situation even worse.

"Well I guess we will be driving to get him, wait I don't even know where he lives." As if on cue Mai receives a text from Yasu with his address. "How does he do that?" Mai asks.

"I don't know." Madoka responds. "I don't know."

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After they picked up Yasuhara and he got in the back of the van they drove to Yamanashi Prefecture which was almost two hours away, both Madoka and Mai had heard a yell at Yasuhara from a woman as he left his house, he seemed to hurry to the car and as soon as he got his seatbelt buckled he asked for Madoka to drive.

"It was just my mother not that big of a deal," Yasuhara says in a chipper tone though Madoka and Mai could tell he didn't mean it, Mai is going to have to ask about it later.

They also explained how Gene was the dog in the back seat when Yasu asked about him.

Halfway there Yasu had his research finished even though they had only been in the car for a little over half an hour. "Hiroto Agawa owns a private plane company which has been in their family since 1965, along with a general airlines, since the same time period, he also owns an automobile company which has been in the family since it was first made back in 1922. Though the company that made them rich to begin with was Domino which is now a mobile phone company, which though not well known in other countries but Japan, is said to be the most advanced technological breakthroughs in all mobile devices, they also make substantial computers.

"In 1877 arguably one of the most futuristic home telephones was made by Akito Agawa, he is said to be one of the brightest inventors in history, they say had he been around today he would have made modern technology advances even faster than it is now. He was said to be quite an odd man though he was said to be incredibly kind and well mannered, he had been in a wheelchair since his parents death though I couldn't find anything more on that yet.

"In 1902 he had committed suicide with his lover who was a man by the name of Chimon Abe, in his will which he wrote ten years prior he put his cousin in his will, Itsuki Agawa, who continued to do amazing things with his company and his son later became the head. Who he named Akio in honor of his cousin Akito, Akio Agawa when he took the mantle of the company he used its money to create a car company that still makes cars to this day which seem advanced in comparison to many other vehicles. The car brand name is but a branch of the Domino industry.

"His first child was born when he himself was twenty seven, about nine years after he took on the company, his son Kei Agawa was born who later became the companies owner, he also made Domino Airlines in 1965. Which those planes are said to be crazy advanced and even at the time and to boot today have had no problems in any and all of their planes, not only that they have had yet to have a plane crash at all. Which is impressive. Anyway, getting back.

"Kei Agawa became the owner of Domino Industries in 1975 when his father retired at seventy-one. Though just a year prior his wife had their first and only child, Hiroto Agawa. Who married 18 years later with their parents permission it was sort of an arranged marriage but at the same time it wasn't, both himself and his wife Aia were very much in love and to this day have had no affairs that are known of, she was sixteen during the marriage, two years later at eighteen she had her first child Asami, who is currently twenty-two, their son was born six years later Daiki, who is currently sixteen, Giichi is their twelve year old son and their youngest daughter, Emica. Who is ten.

"They are a surprisingly proud family with only family members as the head of each of the company branches. In fact every major position is lead by some member of their family, all family members both male and female have always lead a position, even when men were the only ones running companies, the females of their company at times pretended to be male and the only time anyone knew a woman was running such companies were those that were their assistants.

"Their also a family that has remarkable political sway and have incredible government power. Though every last member of the family has been raised with Aikto's ideals in mind, focusing more so on improving humanity and their resources than their own power," Yasuhara finally finishes.

"Wow," Madoka and Mai say in synch, Yasuhara was amazing.

"Honestly this would be an amazing time to convince, the Agawa Family to be a sponsor for the ISPR** as a whole, if we could manage that Big Boss would probably be incredibly pleased." Yasuhara says with a chipper smile.

"I think I'm in love," Gene says through their telepathic bond. "Gene you aren't human anymore.." Mai says through their bond back.

"Honestly find a way to bring me back from the dead than, Mai." He says in response with such conviction.

Madoka then finally turns on the music again so time can pass by a bit quicker.

"Finally we are here!" Mai exclaims as she looks at the impressive mansion surrounded by trees, with a brilliant circular driveway, right next to Kawaguchi Lake.***

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As soon as the van pulls up to the houses entrance Mai hops out and stretches.

"So this is the place," Mai says as she looks at the building. The building itself looks much like a Victorian style mansion. The building itself looked much like a castle with how it was styled, though it was made of tan bricks with white on the edges of the corner. Walking up to the door they knocked on the dark brown door. Yasu had stayed behind to begin to collect the equipment with Gene deciding to stay behind with him. A woman who looked to be the caretaker of the building and most likely helped with the needs of all the families household members. She had dark brown eyes and black hair going down to her waist. She was wearing a white blouse and a dark red long skirt and red flats.

"I'm Akari Aikawa, I am the housemaid of this establishment," she says formally with a cheerful smile as she leads them into the house. "Your associates have already arrived, the red head woman and the brown haired man, along with a blonde haired boy," she said as they walked down the hall.

Poor John he has such a baby face everyone thinks he's a child.

When they entered the room she had not been so surprisingly been enveloped in a giant bear hug from Monk. "Mai!" He says spinning her around. "Bou-san, put me down!" Mai slaps the monk on the shoulder.

"But Mai," he whines. "No but's Bou-san," is Mai's reply.

Slowly he sets her down.

Ayako then barges into her vision after hitting Monk over the head with her purse. "What the hell is in your purse woman!" Monk yells as he clutches his head in his hand. Ayako ignores him however. "Mai, have you been eating and drinking enough? You haven't been sulking again have you?" Ayako checks her over with her eyes sternly before smiling. "It's good to see you, Mai," she says fondly with a smile. "Now, this is clearly the work of an Earth Spirit," she said sternly. It was a joke though, Mai was sure. Kind of.

"Good to see you, Mai," John says as he comes to her side with a bashful smile.

"John! How have you been?" Mai asks. "Good, how about you?" Is his reply. "Better," Mai says simply with a gentle smile.

In walks Yasu then with Gene by his heels.

"Is that?" Monk asks. "Yes it's Gene," Mai replies. "No I was going to say Naru, I thought he turned into a dog!" Monk says. Gene yets out a bark that sounds suspiciously like a laugh.

"A dog?" Akawa-san asks. "Oh, you don't mind do you?" Mai asks. "No as long as it behaves itself there should be no issues with it being here," she replies. "I'll leave you be," she said softly as she left the room.

They all began to set up the monitors also having dinner well they finish up a lot of work and Ysau does a rundown on his research. They all carefully take care of their own parts on the case and eventually they decide to go to bed Gene curling up on a pillow Mai provides for him.

Then off to dreamland she goes…

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**A/N: Mai's age is 17 in this line of the story, if it has been mentioned otherwise I'm sorry, I didn't want to go over 4,000 words XD **

**Going to point out did anyone notice how weird Yasu was?**

***1: Yamanashi Prefecture is filled with resorts and is considered a sort of 'countryside' area of Japan, I hope I got that right? It is at the base of Mount Fuji and is known for hiking, fishing, skiing and climbing, it has five lakes in its total area that it encompasses. **

****2: Basically just made that up the International Society of Psychical Research, basically the same thing as the Society of Psychical Research but it will be referred to ISPR instead so we don't confuse it with SPR. **

*****3: One of the five lakes in Yamanashi Prefecture.**

**I hope I got everything right and if I have anything wrong please tell me. Also DOMINO Inc. is not a real company if it is well..I didn't look it up and it will probably having something to do with real dominos so. XD 3 see you soon and I am glad to be back!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Cursed Ring Case (Part 2)

**A/N: Sorry for it being short, well 2,300+ words are short in comparison to the first one but I wanted to keep it short to keep it interesting. But I have a lot of stuff in here that are important for future plot and Naru is coming into the scene eventually...Enjoy!**

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_**August 4th, 2016 5:47 (5:47 a.m)**_

Mai opens her eyes to see Naru, definitely Naru, a real 'dream Naru,' the ones that encompass her dreams in order for her to 'understand' better in a sense.

"Do you?" She hears a man next to her, she looks down and realizes she's wearing a traditional wedding kimono, only to realize so is 'Naru.' She also looks to be pregnant which makes her blush in her subconscious.

"I do," she replies fondly though her words and actions are not her own, she then exchange the rings with 'Naru.'

As soon as the rings are placed on their ring fingers, Mai gets a foreboding feeling like something is about to fall on her and she remembers a chandelier over her, she then pushes her son onto the floor to shield him from the blast and just before the chandelier hits her she feels her now husband cover her body.

She then blacks out, with that Mai wakes up with a scare.

At that exact same moment Gene jumps up from his pillow. With a whine. "I dreamed too, but I have to pee," he says through the telepathic bond they share. Which Mai hasn't thought too much on it but Naru must also share it too. But because of distance most likely wasn't able to communicate, though it could also just be that he hasn't noticed it.

Mai sighs as she goes to open the bathroom door for Gene, he pads in and waits for her to close the door with a 'how rude' through their bond. She closes it for him with another sigh.

She blushes slightly as she remembers her dream. She hopes that perhaps all she needs is to better understand things in order for her mind to give her mercy. Because she doesn't know how many more times she can go through these dreams with her playing and 'Naru' playing a part.

She hasn't even kissed him yet and it almost happened in her dreams! Anyway what was this dream about? 'I better write it in my journal,' she thinks as she walks over to the side of the bed and grabs her notebook.

She begins to write down her dream as Gene barks to have the door opened and keeps whining to her through the bond.

"Damnit Mai don't leave me here!"

"I'm coming," she said through the bond as she stands with a sigh opening the door. He pads out paws and all with his snout stuck up in the air as he looks pointedly away from her.

He then lets out a huff as he falls onto the pillows dramatically. Then dramatically Madoka throws a pillow at his snout with a groan. He lets out a pained yelp.

"Animal abuse!" He screams through their bond as Mai shakes her head with a sigh, the only reason she doesn't cut him off is because otherwise he annoys her by barking which is increasingly worse then him saying 'Mai' constantly in their bond until he gets her attention.

Mai then grabs the pillow out from under him. "What is wrong with everyone this morning?!" He asks annoyed in their bond but shuts up as soon as Mai throws a pillow at Madoka and then Ayako right after waking both of them up.

"Mai," they groan almost in sync.

"How did you know I wasn't a ghost?" Mai asks with a smile.

"You have a weak throw," Ayako replies as she sits up and spits her red hair out of her mouth, she puts her hand on her head. "Ha you said I had a weak throw!" MaI points out. "You do, I just feel a headache from annoyance coming on," Ayako says with a smile.

"Well we should get ready for the day!" Madoka says already up from bed and she walks over to collect her day clothes. Somehow managing to collect Mai's and Ayakos and throwing them at their heads. "Madoka!" Mai yells. "You started it," she says in an almost sing song voice and a smile. Mai can see Gene's tail peeking out from under the bed, well he probably doesn't want to be caught in the middle.

Mai then smiles and well running to the bathroom shouts, "I call dibs." She then slams the door and puts her bra before throwing on the light pink dress that goes down to her knees. She really needed to get a new bra because her cups were overflowing. Some time when she was being depressing and lying about eating junk food and drinking carbonated juice, her chest had filled out a bit more. Which had nothing to do with her new 'diet' but the fact her personality wasn't the only thing to mature.

The rejection after her confession was a wake up call. Mai hums as she brushes through her softly wavy hair which was hidden of its existence because she's always had short hair. She puts her hair in a high ponytail letting two strands loose to frame her face. Lastly she puts on white flats she had enough common sense to bring with to replace her heels from yesterday. Ghost hunting plus heels are a bad combination, though Ayako had yet to learn her lesson, Mai can only imagine the horrors of wearing heels.

"Mai out now!" She hears Ayako's stern voice and Mai opens the door with a, "I'm coming, I'm coming."

"Finally you took forever in there," Ayako says as she walks in. Madoka just snorts in agreement as she waits. "Perhaps we should kick Gene to stay with the boys next time, more changing space is welcome," Madoka said with a look to Gene.

Gene just huffs in reply.

Ayako walks out close to ten minutes later after Madoka began to complain. Apparently Madoka is quite good at wording her complaints appropriately to get her out of the bathroom. Ayako sporting her makeup in all its glory, her red lipstick for once matching her outfit. She was wearing red heels, the same color pencil skirt and a blouse with lace frills.

They both wait a bit impatiently for Madoka to come out, when she does she dances around all cheerily in her skinny light blue jeans she's wearing a white pintuck shirt with long sleeves and white flats. "Let's begin the day!" She says happily. Sometimes Mai wonders if this woman is just a morning person or a demon.

Madoka opens the door and says, "well come on." Mai sighs and walks through the door. Ayako follows with a huff but nothing more seeming to bite back her replies. Though she hears a "I take off time at my real job for this?" Under her breath.

Gene pads out right behind Mai trying to sneak past Madoka and succeeding just barely.

It wasn't really shocking to see no one in base, at least when Naru and Lin were here they actually had a 'Night Watch' system set up. "Perhaps I should call, Noll.." Madoka says looking around. It's not like she was never in charge of cases, it's just she forgot to do a night watch even if she had remembered she probably wouldn't have. No one wants to stay up looking for ghost's all night...well besides Naru and Lin but Mai was pretty sure they were insomniacs.

"Me and Ayako will go wake up the boys don't leave this room, oh and can you watch the monitors?" Madoka asks with Ayako next to her grumbling about how, "she doesn't get a say in anything." Mai then replies, "sure it's fine. I'll work the monitors," she is a bit annoyed with it but Madoka is a scarier boss than Naru. Madoka then grabs Ayako by the sleeve and pulls her out the door, Gene who was just standing by the door pads over and with a huff curls up at the base of the monitors. He did seem a bit annoyed today.

Mai then sits down where Lin would usually sit because she was on monitor duty. "I don't know how Lin does this…" Mai says softly as she tries to check all the audio. "Perhaps I can be of assistance?" A feminine voice says at the door. Mai startles and when she turns around she sees a beautiful woman, despite her beauty she looks like a rebel in pure black leather skinny jeans and a tank top, she's very curvaceous with wavy raven hair with blue lowlights that go past her waist. "Naomi Agawa, pleasure," she says with a grin as she walks up casually, "It's quite new tech but the monitors could use an upgrade." She looks at the equipment with a, "lets see here." Under her breath.

"Give me the day and I'll have your cameras looking better than anything any company could ever dream of creating," Naomi says with almost sadistic glee. "But," Mai tries to protest surely the video feed would be down. "Not today? Fine give me your companies address, I'll be over shortly after you finish your case here, Ghost girl." Naomi says.

Ghost girl?! Well she doesn't have anything else to call her so..guess she's going to have to change that. "Mai Taniyama," she says bowing in greeting to her, which Naomi only does an acknowledging bow with her head in response. Which reminds her a bit of Naru. "I'll leave you be, I have some family matters to attend to and my cousin needs some help with the house work," Naomi says as she backs out of the door with a wave of goodbye and then she walks down the hall.

Mai just watched the monitors bored until Gene's head perked up to watch the newcomers that were talking boisterously, besides John that just politely paid attention. Sometimes joining in.

"Good morning, Mai." Monk says as he throws an arm around Mai with a big grin on his face.

"Good morning, Bou," Mai replies as Monk lightly ruffles her hair fondly but not enough to mess it up. Yasu is surprisingly quiet which is unnerving.

Though he did seem normal when he seemed to remind himself to act that way but with how down he was appearing Mai was beyond concerned.

"Should we eat breakfast before we get the real fun started?" Madoka suggests. "I'm starving I could eat a whole cow," Bou-san comments, "like you could eat a cow, stupid monk." Ayako replies just to bait him for a bit of banter. Ayako seems to look at Yasu to see if he joins in which when he doesn't Mai understands what she was doing.

With all eyes in the room on him for a moment Yasu just smiles. "Well I'm not sure what we are waiting around for Ayako to get gray hair or christmas, the former is more likely." He adjusts his glasses slightly. Ayako fumes, "why you!"

"Let's eat I'm starving," John says. How could they deprive the only nice person in their group food?

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

Mai had been walking down the hall and taking temperatures, the group decided to stay away from the rings which are the artifacts centered around this case, not until they can prove that there is nothing at all behind it, they don't wish to risk death if somehow they are responsible.

Suddenly she stopped and looked up to see a family photo, the Agawa Family was huge! They all had been painted in a long rectangle like golden frame, The date above being 1998 Agawa and Adachi family? She assumed that must be family of relation. Then she saw something even more peculiar...she was in the photo. She looked closer because that couldn't be right and it wasn't as a teenager in the photo had a very light brown hair that reminded herself of her mom. Next to the woman was what appeared to be her sister and her husband, holding up a two year old Naomi. Then behind them must have been their mother and her husband. But she couldn't stop staring at the woman in the photo.

She looked like her mother!

"Don't think too much into it Mai!" She scolds herself looking away. She starts back down the hall with a huff.

When she looks ahead of herself she sees a beautiful man standing at the end of the hall looking at her with a smile, she can tell he's a ghost not because of his looks but his clothes. He was wearing a distinctly western style suit, with black hair that goes to his shoulders in a way that seems to suit him. His clothing were reminiscent of the Meiji Period.*

He looked to be tall, in fact Mai guessed he was as tall as Lin.

Her instincts say he's the cause of this but how could someone with such a kind smile do something that awful?

His eyes were a soft brown befitting of his kind look that he gives her and his suit nearly blends in with the wooden walls of the house. Though halfway down the wall has red wallpaper.

She just stands and watches him, his gaze is only filled with kindness and her instincts don't yell any warning bells off in her head. Which reminds her neither did it when they arrived.

"Hello?" She asks curiously. "Are you the one haunting this house?" He looks away for a moment and then nods softly though the kind look in his eyes never leaves, though his smile drops.

He then begins to walk down the hallway once more to the right, leading her down the hallway. She began after him with a "wait!" She ran to catch up with him but stopped when she began to feel too tired to run.

"Wait.." She says just before her eyes droop and she falls unconscious, the last thing she sees is his kind smile filled with only compassion. Even now when she drifts off to sleep she doesn't feel at all afraid.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

"Oliver Mai has been missing for the last two hours, we've looked everywhere!" Madoka's voice filters through Mai's mind. 'But I'm right here…' She thinks sleepily.

"You left her wander by herself!" Comes Naru's reply. "I––we can't afford that," is his hasty reply that echoed through her mind. "I'm on my way to Japan, call me if you get any leads where she is," his cold but familiar voice echoed through her mind.

Then it all went silent once more…

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

**A/N: Once again sorry for being short. Anyway what's up with Yasu? Only I really know but I mean at the same time I feel like I don't. XD Anyway does Mai have relatives? Or is it just coincidence? Naru is on his way it appears he was just a little bit worried about Mai. Does this ghost have evil intent? Anyway see you next chapter.**

**1*: Meiji Period- Era between 1868-1912, when the Japanese had a lot of western influence and the government encouraged the total population to wear western ****garments, during that time the 'kimono' was an unpopular choice of clothing to wear. **


	3. Chapter 3: The Cursed Ring Case (Part 3)

**A/N: Sorry it was a bit late, 5,000 words though, haha that was long, anyway it took so long because I'm on vacation and well tomorrow Im going back home on a plane so I wanted to post it today. **

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

_**August 4th, 2016 , 23:59 (11:59 p.m) Current hours missing: eight hours and thirty minutes**_

Mai hears humming and she opens her lidded eyes to a dark abyss. 'Where am I?' She thinks to herself as her eyes fully open and she sits up only to see a figure in the distance. 'The man I saw earlier.' She thinks to herself with realization, she then walks towards him despite knowing he is a ghost. "Who are you?" Mai asks out loud to him.

"Akito Agawa, though feel free to call me Akito," he says as he ruffled her hair. "Where am I?" Mai asks out loud. "The Astral Plane, there aren't any spirits here besides myself and my parents souls are confined to rings, though they cause issues they can't move very far and even a medium would find it difficult to sense their souls." He says in a gentle tone. "I will show you the past through your dreams," he gestured with his hand in front of them and suddenly around her a room came into being and the humming became louder only to reveal a woman rocking back and forth with a hand over her pregnant belly. She was wearing a red plain kimono, her hair was loose dark brown strands that framed her face and she had the softest of light brown eyes which reminded her of the man next to her. "She's your mom?" Mai asks. The man next to Mai, Akito, simply nods.

Into the room runs a three year old boy. "Hello, Akito, do you want to meet your little sister? It's funny I just know she's a girl, I can tell it, isn't that strange?" She asks her little one.

He just shakes his head no. Not completely understanding but in a small way he does.

"Chuya," a masculine voice is heard and Mai looks over to see a tall man with raven hair. "It's time to go, did you forget today we are getting married?" He asks.

"Not at all, Hayate, now can you help me up so we can go?" The man was already wearing his traditional yukata for the marriage. He then lets Chuya wrap her arm in his well the other arm. They get into a carriage and the man driving the carriage a western man addresses him as a 'lord.'

"Though from Japan from what I heard my father did something to impress the British royalty and was given a high title. From what I had heard from relatives my parents traveled often by ship sometimes carriage and they brought home cultures from all over Europe. Which is the reason you'll see for their more, western cultured wedding." Akito supplies helpfully, Mai would have probably been confused otherwise.

They followed their horse drawn carriage to a new building, they both watched quality as Chuya got ready, in her wedding kimono.

Outside Hayate was speaking with a man. "You must have spent a lot on this wedding of yours, Hayate," the man says. "Koto I do not have time for you games I have to get ready." Hayate says. "Fine then but don't call for me if something happens," the man now known as Koto says. Hayate just brushes past him.

The wedding begins with no hitches but just when the bride and groom exchange their I do's Mai watches as Koto hits down the chandelier and Mai feels her heart drop to her stomach as she watches with tears in her eyes as just like in her dream. The woman protects her child 'Akito' and the man protects them both. Mai can't take her eyes off the scene in front of her as the doctors try to save them both, though doctors at the time weren't very proficient as they are today. Because of a head wound the woman was barely holding on to life.

Though that night August 7th of 1862, her child was still delivered by c-section and five minutes after the woman, Chuya Agawa had passed away her husband died a few hours earlier, both leaving behind two children one with paralyzed legs and the other born early.

Mai continues to dream about their entire lives well Naru rushes to Japan in order to find her.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

_**August 5th, 2016, 2:29 (2:29 a.m) Current hours missing: eightteen hours and thirty minutes**_

Oliver was getting impatient, he was irritated and worried, if he let himself think on it too much he knows he's only worried about Mai than anything.

He hasn't slept in the last twenty-four hours. He's restless and exhausted, but he can't rest until she's safe. 'Why though?' He can't help but wonder. Even a genius like himself is stumped by her mere existence and what she means to him. He could solve the most complex of all mathematical equations with only a pencil and paper and at times with just his own mind, even solving 'unsolvable math problems.' After all nothing is truly unsolvable.

Science is where he truly excels, Gene didn't start calling him 'Idiot Scientist' just because he was a genius.

History was useless though he made it a point to know the history of every country he visited.

Does he even have to think more on this? It's a waste of time. He graduated at nine years old so of course he excelled in all his classes. Languages he can learn in just a matter of hours though the writing was more difficult for him, reading the writing was simple but writing it out himself. Mainly just symbols, Greek, Russian, Japanses, Chinese, he had a hard time with all symbol based spelling in languages.

He closed his book as he could no longer properly focus on the words, he always covered his books with a black cover before bringing them to the public eye, if he didn't then it would give someone a reason to talk with him. Woman would also play the, "oh that book! I've read it too!' Card and simply guess what the book is about.

So all of his 'black books' usually isn't anything more than a covered book. He just didn't like to give people a reason to hook him into conversation. He had enough trouble as is he doesn't need to give people more reasons. He should sleep the last few hours of the flight, his eyes were already drifting closed as soon as the thought passed through his mind.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

_**August 5th, 2016, 7:31 (7:31 a.m)**_

"Mai!" Five voices shout as the search the house for the fiftieth time that day.

"She just wandered off for a second, how could she be so reckless?" Ayako asks to herself. "Will find her stop worrying," Monk tries to reassure his fiancé, as he puts a hand on her shoulder. Ayako looks like she's barely holding herself together, none of them had slept in twenty-four hours to worried about the sun of their group. Yasu looks like he was hit by a train with his ruffled hair and clothes his cheery demeanor diminished completely.

Gene has been trying to sniff her out literally though failing as he says there are too many scents so he can't track her down. He has even tried to astral project himself, though he says he's being kept out by a powerful spirit.

John has been trying to keep everyone's hopes up, Madoka looks like she's ready to murder someone and Monk looks...awful. Like he had just learned someone had died. None of them were prepared for their black haired boss to come rushing in slamming open the door black clothes absolutely drenched from the rain outside. "Have you found her?" He asks irritation clear in his voice as he glares at the rooms occupants.

"Obviously not or you wouldn't be here now would you?" Madoka replies just as sharp and sassy, her smile screaming 'don't test me.' Lin walks in calmly behind Naru though he appears to barely be keeping his cool as all of them are fond of Mai. Which means if she's missing they are all tense.

Oliver notices Gene though his eyes widen slightly he will just have to think on it later.

Right now they had to focus on finding Mai.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

Mai was watching scenes of the past unfold, as Akito confined to a wheelchair managed to become one of the most amazing people she had ever seen. He had managed to make a telephone that was almost identical to that of modern day technology in a time when no one had even dreamed of it being a possibility. She even watched him as he grew to be an incredible psychic as well and how he learned the truth behind his parents deaths. She watched as he also fell in love with an incredible man that held his heart. It was touching to watch them together though they kept it a secret for fear of being treated differently despite Akito's having just made Domino Inc. in 1877, eventually he did tell his younger sister Airi Agawa. She also watched his happiness at her wedding when she married a man named Hibiki Adachi.

She watched the newest scene unfold as Koto Agawa and his son Itsuki who was just a year older than Akito walked into the room, Itsuki was looking at the ground. The year was 1893 which made Itsuki thirty-five and Akito thirty-four.

"I want you to make my son the heir of your company, you have no children of your own, your sister has failed to produce children of her own, you need an heir to your company, so choose Itsuki, your closest relative next to myself." Koto explains with a cold tone.

"I will allow him to take over the company at my death only, he will be signed to my will, don't try to kill me off, trust me, I'll know." Akito replies with a glare. Both men glare at each other for several minutes the tension could be cut with a knife. "Fine," Koto finally gives in. Itsuki finally looks at his cousin then nods to him.

Both Itsuki and Akito end up spending more time together throughout the next ten years and in the winter of 1903 Akito is lying in bed looking at his brunette lover for advice. "What should I do?" Akito asks him. His lover Chimon Abe replies, "kill him obviously." With a serious look on his face. "I'm serious Chimon!" Akito says playfully pushing him. "I'm serious too he's scum and scum deserve to rot."

"I'm not going to kill him…" Akito says. "Think it over then you don't have to decide what to do with him yet," Chimon replies. "Do I have to at all?" Akito asks.

With a sigh his lover looks him in the eyes. "Honestly Aki you should, he's been haunting you for as long as I've known you."

"Haunting," Akito replies with a far off look in his eyes. "I think I know what I want to do."

Mai watches as days fly by past her eyes as he gets his plan into place as he calculates if it will work and when he is sure he goes to his lover again.

"I'm going to curse him, Chimon, though I have to die in order to do it," Akito says. "You don't have to do this!" Chimon tries to reason with him after Akito explains his plan. "I do and I will, I love you.." He pulls him down to his level and kisses him softly than wheels himself out of the room.

Chimon just sighs as he follows the foolish man out of the room. "I won't reason with you, you have that same look in your eyes that you always do when you put your mind to something," he says. "I'll help you, after all no life of mine could ever not have you in it," Chimon says. Akito shakes his head and tries to convince him not to help him. "Either way I'll die so why not put my corpse and my soul, what you all own, to use," Chimon says. Akito just starts to cry in response. "But I don't want to hurt yo––" He's cut off by Chimon, "yet I can't watch you hurt, I can't live without you either so let me do this for you." A pause. "Please."

After a moment Akito gives in. "Fine, just promise me one thing."

"Anything," Chimon replies.

"If it goes wrong, at all, just don't die for me," Akito says softly.

"I can––" He's cut off. "You can and will!" Akito says sternly. "Fine.." Though he didn't sound like he agreed.

Akito chuckles by her side, "he was stubborn though that's why I loved him, he also had a mean streak a mile long. Speaking of which, he's probably still mad at me," Akito watches as the scenes unfold.

Mai was about to ask what he means by 'still mad.' But then she sees the next scene will tell.

Akito sat in his wheelchair in a lone room in front of two rings. He then channels their spirits through than before him a male and a female that appear to be Hayate and Chuya.

She watched as he stabbed himself in the chest in order to die so that his soul can tie the souls of his parents to the rings along with the property.

That night his body was found by Chimon, his lover who then committed suicide unable to live without Akito…

That night due to stress his sister went into an early labor and gave birth to a healthy baby boy…

Though that wasn't important information quite yet. Mai hears a voice yelling for her.

"Mai!" The voice itself sounds suspiciously like Naru, with one look towards Akito's soft eyes and encouraging smile she allows herself to fade away from dream world…

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

_**August, 5th, 2016, 10:28 (10:28 a.m)**_

"Mai!" Naru yells, "Mai!"

He had thrown his brain into overdrive which gave him an awful headache in the process but he had managed to aim down where she could have potentially been kept by the spirit. A special place to the spirit in particular, a rose garden next to the house that was cherished by Akito Agawa and his and his lovers burial place.

How he found out it was Akito's spirit haunting the place was when he found documents in the families private library, Written by himself which he will have to analyze more later because of how intriguing it was to read.

His hypothesis was confirmed when he found Mai in the center of the garden.

"Mai wake up," he says lightly slapping her on the cheek. "N-naru?" Mai asks sleepily rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "Where am I?" She asks as she looks around then her stomach growls and she grasps her stomach. "And why am I so hungry?" She asked no one in particular. "Idiot," Naru says with a smirk. "Jerk!" Mai replies slapping his shoulder. "Oh, was that supposed to hurt?" Naru asks her with a raised brow. "No! Anyway, where are we?" She asks. "The rose garden just outside the house," he replies standing and offering her a hand. She takes it after a moment and he helps her to her feet.

"Let's clear up this case before my mother complains about my absence," he says as he begins walking out of the garden without looking back at Mai. "Hey!" Mai yells running to catch up to him. "How did you find me anyway?" She asks. "A hunch," he replies. Mai huffs, 'leave it to Naru to not answer a question.' She thinks.

"So, are you going to share or keep your opinion to yourself until the very end like always?" Mai asks. "I'll keep it to myself," Naru responds curtly. "Figures," Mai says under her breath. They walk in comfortable silence from there, then ending up back into the house when they do Monk rushes towards her and hugs her over.

Each member of the team currently here gives her a once over before saying how worried they were in one way or another. Even Lin seemed to glance her over.

"Are you hungry Mai? You haven't eaten in twenty-two hours Mai," Ayako says. "I'm starving, I would very much enjoy some food, Ayako, oh and water," Mai said. Gene had then padded over to check her over but not as intensely as the rest because Naru was present, he would check her over later.

"More important matters, Gene why are you a wolf? And more importantly alive? Shouldn't you have passed on?" Naru asks the black wolf by the name of Gene. Gene huffs he does that a lot.

"Long story," Mai says. "I happen to have a couple of weeks to spare," Naru replies as he crosses his arms. "Well I'll give it to you later then," Mai says with sass.

"I expect you to write to me the events that transpired to—well that." He gestures to Gene."Can I get more information on the case or are you all just going to fool around?" Naru asks coldly.

"Is anyone going to speak up?" Mai asks they all look at her expectantly. With a sigh Mai says, "fine," then she begins into an explanation on everything that has happened so far including her dreams.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

Exactly three hours and forty minutes later, Naru was ruling over the group with an iron fist as he sat crossed legged on a chair like it was a throne, black booklet open and taking notes of his thoughts, Mai tried to look over his shoulder but all she got was his hands slamming it shut and a glare.

Mai sighs as she looks at the sandwich in her hand as she finishes off the last bite, then she pays attention back to Naru as he begins to speak.

"I think it's time we address the center of this case, the rings, we will also have to summon Akito's spirit because he will most likely be able to help get rid of the curse considering he caused it. Mai I want you to channel his spirit using Gene's abilities, it may just unlock your own abilities as a psychic, in fact it may even make you into a perfect medium." Naru says calmly.

"Which means Gene channel his own powers through her, because he can't channel a spirit without a human body." Naru explains calmly. "Ms. Matsuzaki, Houshou, Father Brown and Lin will protect her and Gene well they figure out how to channel his spirit, Madoka should also be prepared to protect Mai as well. I will also be prepared if the situation arises."

They all nod. "Once we channel the spirit than what?" Ayako asks. "We will cleanse the spirit," Naru explains. Everyone looks dumbfounded besides Lin and Madoka and Gene who is a dog anyway so. The point is that he was actually telling them what he was planning no underhanded words.

Oh and John didn't react much either but he was still a bit surprised.

"Is this progress?" Mai asked no one in particular. "I think it is," Yasu replies with a look that screams 'is this happening?'

"Huh I never thought I'd see the day he'd tell us anything significant about a case," Monk replies scratching the back of his head. "Am I dreaming?" He asks Mai. "No I don't think we are, maybe we should ask Ayako to look him over when we are done? I think he's sick," Mai says seriously. Naru just sighs regretting it already. "Perhaps I should have just kept you in the dark until the last second then," he says coldly. Madoka rolls her eyes fondly and Lin just sighs in amusement at his charges behavior.

Gene then huffs and says into their triangle like bond, "Let's get this over with Mai you owe me some pampering, massages, perhaps a pedicure, the good kind." Then he adds, "Perhaps even you know a bath for once, make Naru spend his money on the best dog shampoo and from now on less dog chow more real foods."

Naru raises an eyebrow at Gene. Mai just sighs, "He does this a lot," she explains through the bond to Naru. Naru just gives Mai a look that says 'if you say so.'

"Let's prepare for the cleansing," Naru says as he stands up.

Naru then leaves the room with Lin following behind him carefully glancing at Madoka who follows him with a sigh. "Well we better get ready for our roles, I hope I don't have to do anything physical, I just got my nails done last week." Ayako says with a huff.

"We don't have to worry about you right?" Monk asks Mai. "I'll be fine, Akito didn't want to hurt me," she reasures them.

"Well we will leave you be, be careful, Mai," John says softly to her as he pats her shoulder before he leaves. "Yep be careful kiddo," Monk says ruffling her hair before following John. "Hmph, just be careful and yell if you need our help," Ayako says to her with a motherly look and a smile as she flips her hair over her shoulder before leaving to get ready. Yasu just sighs and looks at Mai with a smile, "Well I'll be going to, stay safe, I will be watching from the corner taking notes."

"Right," Mai says under her breath. "We better get going," Gene says through the bond as he trots off.

Mai follows him carefully hoping everything will turn out right, the next time Mai, Chiaki Kasai, Naoko Kuroda and Michiru and Keiko hung out. They had their girl night outs which sometimes included Masako whenever she was free.

Naoko and Chiaki were actually dating well Michiru and Keiko seemed to be dancing around it despite the fact they found newfound feelings in each other despite Mai knowing them since they were young she couldn't believe Michiru and Keiko would develop feelings like that when they seemed far more interested in boys. She thinks it's probably because both their parents are 'homophobic.' Mai truly hated that term, not only because of what it represented but their was only pure hatred not a 'fear.'

Michiru and Keiko tried to keep themselves occupied with boys to ignore the attraction they had with each other. It was more of an emotional attraction than a physical which in its purest form is true love. Physical attraction is nothing compared to emotional attraction. Mai only hoped they'd be able to find a life together when they graduated and if not at the very least find happiness in someone else. Though she hated that thought because she knew they truly loved each other.

There's nothing wrong with loving someone for who they are, in a way it shows with Lin and Madoka, they are deeply in love despite Lin's hatred for the Japanese. Ayako and Monk are in love despite the fact they used to fight so much though she bets it's just because of their attraction. Don't even get Mai started on John and Masako's crushes on one another.

Mai sighed Gene and her stood side by side as they both thought about what they would do next, time passing by. Gene's ears shot up and swiveled towards the door. "The rest are in position, right outside the door where the rings are kept, once you and Gene channel Akito's spirit, I will rush in and grab the rings to finish the cleansing. We have to remove their spirits carefully first to avoid cracking the rings, so we must draw out their spirits. Understood?" He asks with an arched brow.

"Yeah got it." Gene just barks in agreement

Naru just nods and leaves with Mai following behind, she walks into the hall and looks at the rest, John was wearing his robes and cross, book and holy water in hand, a smile on his lips. Ayako smiling her hair was tied back and she was clad in her miko robes, she had one foot in front of the other her socks and geta peeking out from under her garment. Monk was wearing his usual buddhist robes, beads in hand looking as professional as he is. Lin and Madoka simply seemed prepared for what was to come, well Yasu was leaning against a wall just behind Monk with a notepad in hand.

"Gene and Mai I need you to relax you breathing and if you can only Gene should go to the astral plane but it would be easier for him to do this in the astral plane." Naru says calmly and softly.

Gene seems to do so as soon enough he makes himself appear in front of Mai's eyes in a spiritual form after he went limp. "I'm going to sorta posses you so just stay calm," Gene says with a soft smile as he reaches towards Mai. He then sinks his mind with hers and speaks through the bond instructing her what to do.

"I want you to imagine Akito and then call out his name, once you have centered yourself in your surroundings." He instructs and after a moment Mai has calmed herself enough to start to get a feel of her surroundings more, then in an instant Gene is allowing his own abilities flow through her. Mai suddenly can feel a lot more than she could before, everything around her, it was the peak of Gene's own abilities and Mai's combining as their souls brushed against one another. She can feel Akito's spirit and all his emotions, he was calm and content.

Mai then closes her eyes as she focuses on him. Her own energy that was previously wrapped around him now he is pulled towards her though he is willing so it was very easy. "Hello, Mai," she hears his soft voice and her eyes snapped open and infront of her is Akito. His smile as radiant as ever.

"I assume you wish for me to pass on, perhaps to draw out the spirits of my parents as well? I can do that you don't even have to ask," he says softly as he turns towards the door. The ones where the rings lay behind, Mai shivers as she feels the raw anger and madness behind that door.

Naru then walks through the door his psychokinesis lying on his fingertips as he waltzes towards the rings gracefully. Mai wants to call out to him but she can hear Gene in the back of her mind saying she shouldn't.

Naru then walks out the glass container that holds the rings in hand as he sets them on the floor right before Akito's eyes. Carefully he opens the lid.

"Mother, father, we are free now." He says softly and before their eyes appear a man and woman, Chuya and Hayate looking identical to when they were alive and well, dressed in their wedding clothes. Their faces though filled with anger. "Why did you trap us here?" Chuya asked her son in anger. "Because I wanted you to get your revenge on your killer." Their eyes widen. "Who killed us?" Hayate asks. "Your brother, Koto, father," he replies with a sad smile. "Koto did this?" He seems angry. "Unfortunately he had sunk on the Titanic before my plan came to fruition." Akito says calmly as if you talk about the death of someone so naturally.

"Forgive me, mother, father, though does it matter now if we are free, not only that we are dead. What is the purpose of all this?" Akito asks. "It appears that is true," Chuya says. "Should we go then, my love?" She asks Hayate. "Yes we shall," he says with a smile. They then disappear in a warm golden light. Akito once more faces them. "You will find in my old drawing room, journals, they shall interest you as they hold my discoveries from psychic research to my inventions. The locks key on the chest that hides it should be under the floorboard just below the bust statue of the female head. I shall see you again Mai, seeing as Gene can no longer guide you like he used to, I shall guide you. Goodbye for now," he says mischievously as he fades away into the warmth.

The magic of the end of the case faded away and with that it was finished.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

"Thank you so much for your help," Aya Agawa says as she bows, with her housemaid who bows next to her. "I was wondering if you knew my mother.." Mai says out of nowhere. "Mmm, yes we did she was a distant relative of my husband, though extremely close to the family, she was the great great granddaughter of Airi Adachi formerly Agawa, your mother was Izanami Taniyama formerly Adachi correct?" Akari their housemaid asks. Mai gasps, "I haven't heard anyone speak her name in years." Akari smiles, "She was actually my auntie, my mother is her sister Ainu Agawa, she married a Agawa family member, a distant cousin. Though they didn't know until after marriage and when that happened the family Adachi family became a branch of our own." She explains. "Your grandmother who you're named after stays in contact with us a lot, Mae Adachi, she was away in another country which was why we didn't ask her help with our cursed rings."

"Mae Adachi?' Naru asked suddenly, "She's one of the most successful paranormal researchers in the world." He says in awe. All of them present have a dumbfounded look on their face. "Your grandmother is **the **Mae Adachi!" Monk exclaims as he shakes Mai. "She's like the greatest paranormal researcher ever, with Oliver Davis only a hair behind her."

"She's that important?" Mai asks. "Important? Anyone Naru looks up to in this field is important Mai!" Monk exclaims.

"I'll have to think this over.." Mai says. "Anyway let's head back to the office I could use some tea after all this," Mai says. "Agreed I think we've had enough to deal with," Ayako says waving her hand in a gesture as she speaks. She then argues with Monk back to their car. Everyone gets ready to leave Naru and Lin getting into Lin's sleek black car. He doesn't say anything just nods to Mai.

Madoka looks at Mai, a silent Yasuhara standing behind her, Gene has been lying curled up under the porch listening and he trots out from his hiding and Mai opens the door for him Yasu climbing in and a sheepish John into the back seats as Monk and Ayako had left the poor priest behind.

Madoka and Mai say their goodbyes to the family and then climb into the car.

༶•┈┈ ┈ ┈ ┈┈•༶

It's a few hours later when all of the gang are in the office building sitting in the living room, Masako joined them by now though she doesn't even give a second glance to Naru, they all drink their favorite drinks, Green tea for Mai, English Breakfast for Naru, Green tea for Masako, Iced Coffee for Monk, Lin drinks a chinese tea Mai can't really pronounce, Yasuhara just wanted some water because he said he wasn't feeling well, though usually he likes Green tea, well John enjoys coffee from time to time, Ayako likes to drink Coffee, well Madoka likes Green tea.

Yasuhara was being extremely quiet. All of a sudden he stood up Gene scampered away because the force of him standing up made him move out of the way from his curled up position at his feet.

Yasuhara looks emotionless his eyes usually full of joy void of emotion as he speaks seven horrible words.

"I can no longer work here."

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**A/N: Yasuhara is acting weird and soon you'll find out why. Also Mai has family and I added that in because I thought it would be pretty interesting, next chapter will be a filler which I'm calling all chapters without cases that though there will be a few and this will include Yasu's arc to add background to him. Also Naomi is coming back into the scene to help with their tech and perhaps will give them a case, who knows..**

**See you next time! Please review and favorite if you can!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Next Case

**Some of the kindest souls I know have lived in a world not so kind to them. Some of the best human beings I know, have been through so much at the hands of others, and they still love deeply, they still care. If that isn't something to be in awe of, I don't know what is. -Bianca Sparacino.**

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A boy about fourteen watched on with a dazed look at his father as he yelled at the boy for getting ninety percent on his exams. His best was never enough, never, he knew now why his older sister died from suicide. She just couldn't carry on but he wanted to, he hoped that one of these days it would get better.

It wasn't until he first fell in love with a boy his own age that he learned that sometimes even your hopes and dreams could be crushed. His father never fed him before anyways so he only ever ate one meal at school his friends paying for it. But when the beatings started because he wasn't quite straight he began to wonder if suicide could be an option.

He also began to be bullied in school, it got worse when his boyfriend died by suicide, his friends blaiming him for it. They were convinced he'd done something to turn him gay. So the beatings became apart of his school life as well.

Just when he thought it couldn't have gotten worse he had been raped on his way home from school at fifteen, his father blaming him for being late and the beating was even worse than usual. When Child Protection Services had found out that he wasn't being fed at home. Than he was sent to live with his mother who hated him just as much.

She at least made sure he had food and nice clothes and he attended his first year at Rokuryo High School, he had been accepted into the student body because of his grades in interests in helping the students, despite how the teachers acted, if he was being honest it was heaven in comparison to living with his father. Then during his third year there Sakauchi had died from suicide and then school had become sort of haunted, which led to him meeting his real family.

It was only recently that Yasu had began to experience problems with his mother even more so than usual insulting his hobby of working at SPR, which was why he had gotten a job at Okinawa in the first place, to try to get her to leave it be but she continued to bring it up.

He could help but wonder when it would end.

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"Why?!" Mai exclaims as she stands up. "Why do you have to leave, Yasu please tell us," Mai's voice cracks and everyone else is in too much shock. "What do you mean you have to leave?" Monk asks. Everyone else murmurs an agreement too shocked to do much more. Well of course Naru doesn't act too shocked, along with Lin.

"I.." Yasu's voice cracks and he's on the verge of tears. "I can't tell you.." He looks at his feet. "Please, explain to us," Mai begs. "Y-you want to know the truth? I-I-I'm t-tired of this j-job, o-okay, I hate playing r-researcher." It's such an obvious lie, besides the hurt on his face from saying the words that give it away, so does the tears rushing down his cheeks. He collapses backwards with a fit of sobs as he hugs himself. Everyone is heartbroken seeing their usually cheerful companion in such a state. Even Naru and Lin look obviously shocked by this point.

"I will need an explanation, Yasu," Naru says though his voice is soft.

"I shouldn't, I can't, I just can't please don't make me say it," he sounds so broken as he curls up with his knees to his chest on the couch.

"Whatever it is we won't judge," Masako says from where she stood by John. John nods and adds, "We don't like to see you like this so you can tell us anything, mate," he says.

Yasuhara just has one of those twisted painful smiles on his face from how much he was hurting before his lips go back to a frown again as he cries. "You'd just think I was weak," he says as he looks at his lap not able to look at them.

Ayako walks forward and pulls him into a hug. "Tell us what's wrong, how much longer do we have to say it?" Ayako says. By now they all had tears brimming in their eyes besides Naru and Lin of course. They just didn't like to show their emotions as much more so Naru then Lin however.

"My mother told me she doesn't approve of my job, I've only recently began to live with her, I was living with my father before but he abused me so they gave me to my mother who never wanted me, she hits me too and complains about everything I do, about my job, especially," he explains. All of them are shocked through their disbelief as that, that happened to him, **still happening**. Much less someone that acts like everything was always right with the world and only sometimes acts serious, a happy go lucky kind of person.

From this moment on he's one of the strongest people Mai knows. "Why would we think you were weak?" Mai asks. "You're the strongest person I have ever met," she adds. "You think so?" Yasu asks hopefully. "I know so," Mai said with a smile. "You're so strong for what you've had to deal with, not only that you act like it doesn't happen, which is so strong of you, to be able to ignore your pain and be happy."

"Thank you, Mai," he says with a soft genuine smile of his. At the sight they all begin to cry as they go in for a group hug, Lin and Naru staying out of it.

"We promise we'll do something to get you out of this. Alright, just give me and Ayako a few days to think it over." Monk says to Yasu as he ruffles his hair lightly much like he does with Mai. "I knew you'd fall for me," he jokes softly to Monk. "It's still not funny," he replies. "I think it is," his usual reply and it was just as bright as always.

"Would you like to stay with me for a bit, Yasu?" Mai asks. "Sure I need to get away from my mother," he replies. "We will probably have to go shopping for clothes for you though.." Mai says as an afterthought.

"Well Mai we should get going then." He says cheerfully as he stands up and brushes the tears from his face. "Come on then," he drags her out despite her protests and Gene trots behind quickly as he finally gets out of his own mindspace from Yasu's realization.

"Damnit Yasu!" Mai yells as he drags her out the door.

"There they go," Madoka comments with a cheerful smile despite all their tears and the sadness that weighs heavily in everyone. Everyone else sighs in response besides Naru. All of a sudden everyone feels a chill down their spine as Naru just stares at where they left before looking back at his book. "Now now Kazuya no reason to get upset," John tries to calm Naru down.

It only seems to make the temperature drop faster..

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"How about this Yasu?" Mai asks. "No not that, that looks awful against my skin," Yasu's voice replies,

"How about this one?" "No, Mai not that either." "This?" "Hmm you're getting better." "Let's go to this shop!" "But that's a girls shop." "Hmm I was thinking about getting clothes for you too." "What!" "Yep let's go!"

Yasu drags poor Mai into a store. They'd probably be their for hours luckily Mai saves up a lot of money.

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"You looked so pretty in that red dress," Yasu says as they walk out of the mall with bags in their arms, so much bags, too much bags.

"I don't know when I'll need something that fancy," Mai replies.

"A date with Naru of course," Yasu replies cheerfully. "Now lead the way to your apartment Mai-chan!"

Gene once again joins them where he awaited outside of the mall, hiding from passerby. Mai puts his leadline back on as they were in public. He huffs in response still hating it. "We will lead the way, no need to worry." Mai says with a smile as they begin their trek back to her apartment.

Mai and Yasu were exhausted, ready to collapse when they finally got to her apartment. Mai unlocked the door and fell inside her apartment. Yasuhara collapsing next to them, Gene simply padded over them and curled up on the couch.

"So far.." Yasu says as he puts a hand over his head. "It took an hour to get to your apartment..these shoes weren't made for walking either.." He complains. "Neither were mine, neither were mine," Mai replies as she takes off her shoes on her sore feet.

It took a few minutes but they finally got their stuff away and Yasu's bed, bed frame and dresser had arrived just outside the apartment building. They both rush down and get it up to the apartment and spend the next hour setting up his room and putting his clothes and new shoes away.

They had spent far over five hundred thousand yen in a single day, Mai sighs as she opens the Shoji doors to step out of Yasu's bedroom. "Thanks Mai," he says as he steps out with her. "No prob," she replies as she goes over to the kitchen area and Yasu helps her cook up their dinner, then they sit at her Chabudai table as they begin to, chopsticks in hand.

Her apartment was huge and one of the best you could get in Japan, she doesn't pay too much for rent because the person that runs the apartment complex knew her mother. It had a separate dining area from the kitchen, a storage area, a living room, along with two bedrooms. It was like a tiny house in and of itself. It was a traditional styled apartment, with tatami mats and shoji doors and windows, it also had a balcony. Her bedroom had already built in 'bed frame' in a way that was what it was. She just had to buy a mattress to put on top of it though. All things in the apartment she had to buy herself, besides the kitchen's necessities.

"This is a nice place you have here," Yasu comments after he swallows some of his food. "Yeah I don't have to pay much for rent because the apartment's owner knew my mom," she says. "Thats cool at least you don't have to struggle to much," he says with a smile. "Yeah and now you get to stay here," Mai replies with a smile.

"Mai," he says seriously after a few moments of silence. "Yes?' She asks nervously. "Please call me Osamu." He says with a smile. Mai's eyes become bright at the notion, "Really?" She asks. Gene perks his head up from his bowl of meat. "Yes," he nods. "I'll call you Osa for short! How does that sound?" She asks excitedly. "Sounds great."

They both enjoy the rest of the night in one another's presence at one point Gene, Yasu and Mai all curl up on the couch and watch tv.

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**August 19th, 2016, 15:32 (3:32pm)**

Osamu had then been offered a job by Naru as one of the researchers at SPR, along with helping Mai with filing and office work. It was a good opportunity for him and he accepted and the next day quit his job at the hotel in Oikawa.

So now every morning Mai and Osamu went to their jobs at SPR.

Mai had just arrived to work on that particular day when suddenly a woman she recognized ran in. Naomi Agawa. "Yo," she replies a bit out of breath. "I'm here to upgrade this place," she says as she gestures to herself. "You'll have to talk to Naru on that," Mai says. "Alright," the woman walks in and spends the next minute yelling at Naru and then she walked out. "He said no, I'm doing it anyway," she replies. "Wait!" Mai tries to stop her but the rest of the day she spent working on monitors, cameras, the security system of the general building.

"Seriously?" Mai asks, for what felt like the billionth time as Osamu just watched with a smile. At that rate even Naru had stopped trying to stop her finding it a waste of his time and Gene just curled up in a ball taking a nap and sometimes watching her annoy his brother.

"Yes seriously, I'm getting this job done, I only have a few more to go and everything will be perfect," Naomi says as she throws away the last of the cameras and turn them into scrap metal. She had installed cameras from their particular company called Domino all over the building, their security cameras were unnoticeable, well not completely someone could notice them however they had to be able to pay close attention.

She put the last of Dominos monitors and cameras away into their storage for cases, far more cameras and monitors than they needed.

Naru was in a bad mood and asked for tea every five minutes.

Mai was happy to give it to him unlike usual because of his anger.

"You're good to go, now let me get the security cameras online and working then, I want to speak to your boss about a case," she replies as she walks into their security room and comes out half and hour later. "Yo, asshole, get your ass out here!" She yells to Naru. He walks out as emotionless as ever though his glare could kill quite literally if he didn't keep his psychokinesis in line.

"What do you want?" Every word he says sends a shiver down Mai's spine in fear because he was losing control of his emotions. "I have a case for you," Naomi replies softer than before as she felt it too.

"Explain." He says as he sits down cross legged on the leather couch taking out his black note taking book. Lin sits next to him taking out his laptop, Osamu also taking out a notebook and Mai decides to leave it to them this time around.

"I have a friend from high school, she's been renting out her house she had recently bought and within the past few months alone everyone who has stayed there has died. I wouldn't ask this if it wasn't important, so could you investigate and in return I will do you a favor," she says specifically looking towards Naru.

"We will accept your case," Naru replies then he takes a sip of his tea, closing his eyes in content as he does so.

"Mai it appears that we have a case, you call Matsuzaki-san and Takigawa-san, Yasu call Hara-san and Father Brown. Agawa-san, our equipment is ready correct?" He asks addressing her. She just nods in a businesswoman like manner.

"Then we will get ready to leave within the hour, I would like an address, Agawa-san."

And with that their next case began.

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**A/N: Sorry for taking so long, honestly I remade the beginning of the chapter a bit, but besides that I had it relatively finished. I was laying in bed and I had an idea for their next case and I so now because I know what will happen next I finished the chapter. Sorry for be relatively shorter than most of my chapters.**

**Anyway Yasu got a bit of a background, though I will put more into it in the future when he runs into his mother, that's for later though. Thanks to all who have waited and see you next chapter! Oh and I didn't want to make Yasu that affected by his past, not because people aren't affected by things, I myself who went through a lot of mental and emotional trauma from a family member am an example of that, it doesn't go away easily and I will show times where Yasu will struggle, I just didn't want a character being held back by their past. **

**Also next few chapters will be pretty dark but I won't let them get like graphically so. Speaking of next chapter...**

**Next Chapter:  
**

**"Perhaps we should leave, it's getting dangerous far too quickly," Naru says. **

**"But we haven't finished the case yet!" Mai argues. "I can't risk it!" Naru replies in a biting tone. "So I suggest we leave before we all lose our lives." **


	5. Chapter 5: The Bloody Woman Case(Part 1)

A/N: Sorry for late update! Happy New Year!

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**WARNING THE CHAPTERS ON THIS CASE WILL BE DARK, IF AT ANY POINT IT DISTURBS YOU THERE WILL BE A GENERAL SUMMARY ON THE LAST CHAPTER!**

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**August 19th, 2016, 18:22 (6:22pm)**

"Mai," she hears in her ear as she wakes up only to find she was snuggled up against her boss. She squeaks and jumps away bumping into Osamu who just laughs.

"You were mumbling a lot in your sleep and you seem troubled," Naru says in his usual monotone voice as he continued to look at his book. "Did you perhaps have a dream?" He asks as he looks at her with his beautifully annoying blue eyes.

"Not that I can remember," she replies with an exasperated tone.

"I see," he then sips from his tea tumblr which Mai had gotten him as an early birthday present because he planned to leave before his birthday. Mai hears a huff from Gene, he was resting his head on Osamu's feet on the foot of the van, Madoka was in the front on the left where Lin was driving on the right.

Mai eventually rests her head on Osamu's shoulder and he pats her head a bit, he was currently on his laptop hooked up to the vans wifi. Naomi had given them a brand new van for their troubles too, besides she said she had to make it up to Mai for never being there for her despite being family. Which was why she had made a van for them, their entire family had helped too, as a gift to them.

The van was a black van with leather seats, all capable of being heated, there were nine seats in total and bluetooth speakers, the best map system she's ever seen on a car and built in wifi. There were quite a bit of other things too, Lin seemed to be in love considering he hasn't stopped smiling softly sense they got in the car which was two hours ago. Just behind the seating area was a compartment for storage which was cut off from the back but had a sliding door so if you had to you could get farther back to the storage area from the seating area.

It was downright impressive and apparently because the Agawa family had some leeway the family had a specific license plate number that kept them from being pulled over if they were doing anything illegal and if they were pulled over then it kept them from getting a ticket. It was a specific series of numbers, despite the fact that Japanese license plates usually only have a three digit code this one has six digits. 4-5-39-4-5, which would be Domino if you used a code with the dashes being in place of the ones. Otherwise it would be 415391415. The license plate has the kanji for Shibuya on the top well the rest is just letters.

She could feel a glare boring through the back of her skull. "Why are you glaring at me?" She asks nervously to her boss as he continues to glare at her, she then decides that if he's going to treat her coldly she'll do the same, with a huff she gives off her best Naru styled glare.

His eyes widen from her glare and he smiles, "You're learning well Mai." Mai crosses her arms, "Of course you use that glare on me all the time naturally I picked up on it."

"You were thinking too loud," he says as he looks back at his book.

"Oh no, I was?!" She asks with a groan. "With how much you think about useless things in your free time, yet you still do bad at school," Naru comments. "I would think that thinking more would be beneficial but it seems that not all have a keen mind."

"Oh and useful thinking got you far in life?" Mai asks. "Of course, I graduated at ten and had a doctorate from my research by fourteen, thinking is useful Mai."

"You don't have to rub it in." "Perhaps if I rub it in more often you might do a third as good as me at school."

"I hate you." Mai says with exasperation. "That's not what you said when I left." He replies.

"I can't believe you." By now Mai is grabbing Naru by the shoulders and shaking him hoping he'll lose all his attitude.

Naru just smirks as he reaches up and runs his fingers through Mai's hair making her blush and move closer to Osamu. "Aww is Mai-chan getting flustered," Osamu says.

"N-no I'm not," Mai responds. "You say that but you're as red as a cherry, I need to take a picture to remember this by. Perhaps it's blackmail material too," he laughs so cherrily but to Mai's ears it sounds evil. Then with no hesitation he takes the photo.

"We won't be there for another hour, you can go back to sleep if you want," Naru says as he closes his book and moves his jacket over himself seeming to take his own advice for sleep. "I'm not tired," Mai whines. "Then don't sleep idiot," Naru says back coldly.

"Maybe I'm a little sleepy…" She says sleepily as she begins to lean onto Naru. She almost jerks back into a sitting position but Naru has his hand around her and pulled her back into his chest. Mai blushes to the tips of her ears. She was so embarrassed. "Sleep idiot," Naru says with a scowl on his face as he adjusts his jacket around them both. 'Sleep,' his voice echoes into her mind and coerces her into sleep so she will rest easy.

'But I'm not sleepy,' is her last thought before darkness claims her.

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"Come out, come out wherever you are," a female voice can be heard through the wall. Mai could feel tears running down her cheeks as she held a smaller body against her own. The footsteps stopped right outside the door. "Oh there you are, I was beginning to worry, don't worry though it will all be over soon." A woman enters wearing a long beautiful kimono covered in blood.

She laughs softly which quickly turns to a loud craze laugh. "Don't worry your bodies won't go to waste," she says with a crazed smile on her lips as she walked closer. Her footsteps making a clack sound as her wood sandals hit the wooden floor. "Aren't you a pretty little thing, I'm sure your flash will taste just right," she says with a loud laugh. "Would you like to know what flesh tastes like?" She asks and she can feel her body shiver in fear as she shakes her head.

"Like pork," the feminine voice says with a murderous smile. "Now let's get this little thing out of the way," she says as she tears her child out of her grasp. "Mommy!" The little boy yells before he's killed right before her eyes within a split second before she could even move, blood splattering on the floor as he whimpered and bled to death. "Children die so quickly it's no fun," the crazed woman says with a frown as she tosses her child aside.

Mai feels her body heave and throw up as she wasn't able to protect her child. The woman kicks her side and puts her sword is held up to her throat. "Now let's see how long you last," she says with a crazed smile.

She starts to tear off chunks of her flesh only to eat it raw right before her eyes, her death slow and drawn out before she passes out from blood loss.

The last thing she sees is a blurry crazed smile before she wakes up with a scream.

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"Mai?" Naru asks concerned, "Are you alright?"

"I think I'm going to throw up," Mai says as she tries to swallow her own vomit. "Pull over the car!" Naru shouts. Lin slams on the breaks and Naru gets out of the car as quickly as possible without seeming ungraceful and Mai scrambles outside and throws up on the green grass.

"Are you alright?" Naru asks again leaning against the car and watching her. "Do I look okay!?" Is Mai's fierce reply.

"No," Naru says with a roll of his eyes. He hands out a cloth for her which she gratefully takes. Osamu throws her a water bottle from inside the van.

She takes a drink to try and wash out the taste and then wipes her mouth with the cloth.

"Are you ready to go Mai?" He asks carefully. She just nods and then climbs back into the car, once Naru is also situated he drapes the coat that was on his shoulders over her body. She tries to relax again but everytime she closes her eyes she just sees that scene play before her eyes again and she has to stop from gagging.

"Don't throw up in the car or on my jacket. Both will result in consequences you don't want to know," is Naru's icey reply. 'That man really is all business,' she thinks with a scowl. 'Thank you Mai, I try to uphold a very professional personality at all times.' Naru responds back through the bond. 'Stop arguing I'm trying to sleep,' Gene says to the two.

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"Mai," an unamused cold tone that gives her a sense of deja vu wakes her up from her dark peaceful slumber. She blinks open her tired eyes to see dark blue calculating eyes looking down at her. Only to realize once again she was cuddled up to her boss. 'Deja vu is actually real?' Mai thinks to herself which earns her an eye roll from Naru.

"Let's get set up," Naru orders everyone in the car. Osamu gets out of the car stretching, Gene jumping out after him, stretching all four of his legs out individually.

"Mai, Yasu, set up cameras, Lin and Madoka work on setting up the base. Once Takigawa-san and Matsuzaki-san arrive I will have them take care of taking temperatures. Then Hara-san and Father Brown will do a walk through when they arrive in a few hours." Naru says as he grabs his coat off the seat and drapes it back over his shoulders.

They enter the two story building, Mai carefully glanced around when she enters already feeling nauseous she hears the others following behind her but she turns to see Gene's four pawed figure pause at the doorway. He pins his ears back with a whimper as he steps back. 'It's not safe here. This house isn't safe.." Gene says telepathically to Naru and Mai. Naru pauses for a moment but continues on.

'Let's just focus on what we have to do for now," Naru said telepathically as he walks into the room they will use as a base, he sits down and begins to look over a tablet he pulls out from the small glance Mai got over his shoulder it was every piece of information he had on the building.

Osamu picked up some of the cameras and microphones for the rooms to help her set them up, they began to go from room to room, there were twenty two rooms in total, the house was very large, almost the size of a mansion. When they got to the drawing room was when something strange had happened.

The temperature had dropped, Mai dropped the camera she had in hand, said camera rolled to the floor.

"Leave!" Many voices say over and over again, Mai covers her ears Osamu comes closer to her as both of them fear the worst.

There was a bang on the door as Naru charged into the room, effectively stopping the noises. "Grab the cameras we'll bring Yasuhara back to base and then I'll be the one to help you set up this time," Naru says as he crosses his arms. Both Osamu and Mai quickly do as told, both a bit shaken up and even Osamu doesn't seem to want to brighten up the mood.

Once back to base Naru makes sure that Mai is walking in front of him at all times as they begin to finish setting up the cameras. They walk past a door that leads to the master bedroom and cold begins to run rampt into the room. All of a sudden Mai feels a tug of a hand on her leg. She screams as she's dragged backwards into the bedroom's door, Naru grabs onto her hand just in time.

Mai stands up with a scrape on her leg, then she feels a warmth hit her head and everything goes black….

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She wakes up and sees a familiar figure..Akito. "Akito?" She asks as she finally stands up in the Astral Plane. "It's dangerous here," he responds with a serious look.

"What's dangerous?" Mai asks.

"The spirit that haunts her is malicious," he responds.

"Melicious.." Mai says in an almost haze like state. She sees a feminie figure in just on the edge of her vision banging against an invisible wall. "I'm holding her back from you, she will kill you." He says so matter-of-factly that she shivers.

"Time to wake up, I can't hold her off forever," he says. With that she wakes up with a start and a pounding headache..

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"Mai?" She hears Naru's worried lined voice and just blinks quicker in surprise as she sits up slowly and cradles her head in her hands, waking up on the couch back in base.

"Ouch!" She says loudly. "Well if you didn't sit up so fast you wouldn't hurt yourself," is Naru's icey reply.

"You were lucky you didn't get a concussion," Ayako says as she puts ice on Mai's head. "We were worried there kiddo when Naru carried you back." She hears Monk say.

Acknowledging hums answer in reply..then in burst John huffing and puffing. "It's Masako, she collapsed after entering the house!" He yells worriedly. Monk, Osa and Lin rush out to see what had happened and Monk helps Masako into the room with John next to her side as well. Worried deeply you could almost see the love in his eyes for her.

"It's awful," Masako says with tears in her eyes. "The spirits in this house are so distrubed, they had all been murdered by the woman that keeps them trapped here, she's done unspeakable things to all of them." Masako holds a kimono clad hand over her mouth as she tries not to throw up.

"Perhaps we should leave, it's getting dangerous far too quickly," Naru speaks up quickly after Masako's response. "But we haven't finished the case yet!" Mai argues. "I can't risk it!" Naru replies in a biting tone glaring right at her. "So I suggest we leave before we all lose our lives."

Small murmurs of agreement are the only answers he receives. "But..we still have a case to finish.." Mai answers quietly. "He's right Mai, we'll have to give this one up," Monk replies.

Suddenly a creak sounds around the room, more and it sounds like wood is almost breaking apart. Then with a scream from each of the members of SPR, besides a surprised gasp from Naru and Lin sounding throughout the room, they all fall into darkness...

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A/N: See you next chapter!

**Next Chapter: **

**"It appears we have fallen into an old basement built underneath the building, we won't be getting out anytime soon unless we find a path out," Naru says as he looks around the dark basement. "The cameras are more durable than before," he says as he picks one up and turns one on. "We will use these as a source of light for now." **

**"What should we do though?" Mai asks incredulously.**

**"Find our way out of here," Naru responds. **


End file.
